Keira Street site sparks high interest

A parcel of land with Keira Street frontage is one of the best large-scale, privately owned sites to come onto the market in central Wollongong, according to Ted Hanson.

Southern Estates Wollongong principal Ted Hanson stands at the site.

A parcel of land with Keira Street frontage is one of the best large-scale, privately owned sites to come onto the market in central Wollongong, according to Ted Hanson.

Mr Hanson, principal of Southern Estates Wollongong, said the commercial land, which borders Keira and Thomas streets, was one of the city's foremost development sites.

The land has a total size of 4221 square metres, and eight titles are being sold together.

Some of the titles, including land at 131-135 Keira Street and 2 Thomas Street and 4 Thomas Street, have not been on the market for at least 80 years.

"This is central CBD, literally one block from the mall and major central CBD revitalisation development projects," said Mr Hanson, who is the agent in charge of the sale.

"There's been a few other recent commercial sales such as the Lang's Corner building on Crown Street, the Oxford site, the Dwyers site, and Rawson Street and I rank this up there as one of the key sites for Wollongong development."

Mr Hanson said the land was owned by the Parsons family, who now operate their business, H. Parsons Funeral Directors, from premises in Belmore Street.

"One of the buildings originally was the funeral home and over time the family has acquired additional properties to solidify what you see being offered to the market today," Mr Hanson said.

The Parsons family became involved in the undertaking business in 1893 from a building at 152 Keira Street.

They later moved to 135 Keira Street where Henry Parsons Builders and Undertakers continued the business. Alfred Parsons redeveloped the Keira Street site in 1935.

"This is the first time the land at 131-135 Keira Street has come on the market in three generations," Mr Hanson said.

The land at the rear of the Keira Street site - 2 Thomas Street and 4 Thomas Street - was also bought by the Parsons family at the same time.

Titles at 2a Thomas Street, 6 Thomas Street and 137-141 Keira Street were later purchased by the family.

Mr Hanson said the land package offered significant development potential.

"It's a mixed-use zoning, which means there are a number of alternatives including high-density residential and a commercial content, to be either retail and/or office," he said.

The floor space ratio is 3.5:1 for commercial and 2.5:1 for residential.

Mr Hanson said there had been a lot of interest since the land hit the market.

"We are very encouraged by the amount of inquiries we've had," he said. "What has been a little bit surprising is that we have fielded a number of out-of-area inquiries."

The land will go to auction on Monday, August 25, at 2pm at the Novotel Northbeach.